


In Theory

by K_K_TiBal



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Roommates, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 17:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20728046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_K_TiBal/pseuds/K_K_TiBal
Summary: Castiel and Dean stand in line at a carnival and make a small friend.





	In Theory

**Author's Note:**

> The biggest Happy Birthday to whelvenwings!!! You're an amazing friend and there's nothing theoretical about it :)

“I told you we should have bought two.” Castiel said, eyeing Dean as he cut off another large portion of the recently purchased funnel cake and dangled it over his mouth before dropping it inside. “But, no. You said you weren’t hungry enough for a whole one.”

Dean held up a finger as he chewed, and Castiel waited for the explanation. 

The sounds of the carnival around them had been distracting at first; loud screams from those who braved the Super Loop, bangs and whistles from various games, and loud chewing noises from Castiel’s roommate. Most of those noises had faded into the tapestry of the carnival experience that Dean had dragged him to the moment he’d learned of its existence. 

“That was my last bite, I swear.” Dean said, wiping a sugar-coated smile and holding the plate of fried dough out towards Castiel. “Maybe. Actually, wait -” he took the plate back and cut off another piece and shoved it into his mouth so quickly he lost his grip on the fork and it fell into the grass- “ah shit.” 

“Ah, Icarus,” Castiel said, handing Dean his own mostly-unused fork with a pitying smile, “You flew too close to the sun.” 

Dean looked slightly chagrined, but took the offered gift anyway with a nod of thanks.

Castiel nudged Dean as the line of people in front of them stepped forward. 

“Actually, we need to finish it before we get on the ride, so eat up.” Castiel said, standing on his tiptoes to see how far away they were from the front of the line. 

“Don’t you want any?” Dean asked as he cut another large piece off and stabbed it with the fork he’d just been gifted, holding it out for Castiel to eat. 

Castiel glared at the fork, and the smug grin Dean was trying to hide, and took the bite before he could think too much about it. 

“Is that funnel cake good?” 

Dean and Castiel both turned to look behind them at the boy who’d asked. He looked like he was maybe thirteen or fourteen, looking between the two of them expectantly. 

“Incredible.” Dean said with a thumbs up and a wink. “Highly recommend.”

Castiel nodded in agreement as he finished chewing.

The boy turned to the man behind him and gestured towards the two of them like it meant something important. 

“See, dad? I told you it’s good. We should get some.”

The dad, with one hand gripping the hand of another child, and the other holding a plastic cooler, let out a sigh. 

“I never said it wouldn’t be good, Max. I said we brought our own snacks so we wouldn’t have to pay for any here.” 

To emphasize the point, he held up the cooler. 

Max pouted. 

“It _ was _ outrageously expensive.” Castiel said with a nod, “Especially for a food that someone has only eaten a few bites of while the other has eaten most.”

“Hey, you just said to hurry and finish it!”

The dad laughed as he set the cooler down briefly, fishing an apple out from it and handed it over to Max, who took it begrudgingly. 

“So, do you two live around here?” The dad asked conversationally. 

Castiel nodded, then pointed to Dean.

“Well, sort of. He’s local, but we both go to school here.”

“Roommates?” 

“Unfortunately,” Dean said, using the fork to emphasize dramatically, “It’s just ‘dead guy’ this and ‘unsolved mystery’ that, twenty-four seven with him. Gets real boring after a while.”

The dad raised an eyebrow at Castiel.

“I’m an anthropology major.” Castiel explained, then elbowed Dean. “And that’s an odd complaint coming from the man going into forensics.” 

Max’s eyes widened at the two of them as his interested seemed to be piqued. 

“That’s cool!” 

Dean was grinning, now. 

“Mine’s a little bit cooler though, right?” 

“That’s unfair - he might not even know what ‘anthropology’ means.” 

“Sure he does! Everyone knows it means you work in a clothing store.” 

Castiel let out a long sigh while Dean laughed at his own joke.

“Apologies. He uses that joke at least once a week and still thinks it’s funny.” 

The dad cracked a smile and handed an apple to the younger girl whose hand he was still holding. 

“So, where are you from, if not from around here?” The dad asked, nodding his head towards Castiel. 

Castiel hadn’t been to a carnival in a very long time, but he was beginning to get the sense that sometimes small talk between customers in line to kill time wasn’t out of the ordinary. Dean didn’t seem bothered by it, at least. 

“Washington.” Castiel answered while using his fingers to rip of another piece of the funnel cake, and immediately regretting the sticky coating he knew was going to be difficult to get off. “But I’ve been here for a few years now.” 

“Wow, a big move huh?”

“Definitely.” Castiel said with a nod. “I kind of miss the rain.”

“Aw, Cas, why didn’t you tell me?” Dean made a pitying face at him, “There’s a car wash down the street you could go walk through - I’m sure it’s exactly the same.”

“I also miss the peace and quiet.” Castiel said flatly. 

Dean snorted. 

“He doesn’t. He loves me.”

Castiel opened his mouth to argue the contrary, but opted for rolling his eyes heavily. 

“Dad -” 

The little girl was tugging on her father’s arm. 

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

The dad nodded and set the cooler of food down into the grass next to Max. 

“Watch this, Max. We’ll be right back.”

Castiel watched the pair of them hurry off towards one of the nearby Honeybuckets and hoped that the line didn’t start moving before they returned. 

“Hey, you’ve got -” 

Castiel looked over just as Dean wiped a forceful thumb across his cheek with an impish smile and nodded at him as Castiel scowled. 

“- got it.”

“I did not.” 

“You super did. You’re lucky I’m here.”

Castiel glared at Dean, who only continued to smile until Castiel finally couldn’t resist and cracked one of his own. 

“Shut up.” 

“Excuse me -”

The sound of the voice behind them grounded Castiel back to the carnival and the line they were standing in, and Max, who was staring at them with a look that tugged on Castiel’s heartstrings in a way he didn’t quite understand. 

“What’s up?” Dean said, scooping up the last bite of the funnel cake. 

Max pursed his lips and ducked his head shyly before seeming to steel himself for something with a deep breath.

“Are you two... together?” 

There was a brief moment where Castiel nearly opened his mouth to tell Max that, yes, of course they were here together, couldn’t he tell? But the deep, meaningful look that he gave the two of them caught him off-guard before he could get a word in. 

Oh. 

_ Oh. _

Castiel looked over at Dean, who was looking back like he’d picked up on Max’s implication almost instantly, and didn’t know what to say. 

They… were not. 

Technically. 

They lived together, spent an excessive amount of time together, teased each other, and were often mistaken for a couple - not that it had ever bothered them before. They’d just corrected the mistake if they needed to or ignored it if it didn’t matter.

Castiel sort of liked when it happened. 

Max, though. . . he didn’t look like he wanted a correction. The way he was looking at them - like he was so hopeful that the answer would be yes - Castiel didn’t want to crush that hope. 

He remembered what if felt like to be him. 

Had it just been him there alone with Max, he probably would have said yes, but he didn’t want to have to drag Dean into a lie with him that he might not be comfortable with.

“Well, uh,” Castiel glanced away from Dean and cleared his throat. “No. We’re not.”

Max’s shoulders sagged just enough to be noticeable, and it broke Castiel’s heart. 

“Hey, but - in theory we _ could _be!” 

Castiel nearly pulled a muscle in his neck because of how fast he turned to look at Dean. His cheeks had a pink flush to them, and he was leaning forward ever-so-slightly in a way that made him seem more earnest. 

Dean met Castiel’s questioning gaze and the pink in his cheeks grew more pronounced. 

“Uh, you know, like -“ Dean swallowed and turned back towards Max, “- it’s totally fine that you thought we were - together. You know. And we could be! But we’re not. But not because….we think we can’t.” 

Castiel presses his lips together to avoid laughing at Dean’s floundering. 

He understood where it was coming from. How could he let Max know that just because they weren’t _ together _ didn’t mean he was alone? 

Castiel crouched down to Max’s level and smiled at him softly. 

“I think what Dean’s trying to say is that we’re not together the way you think we are, but we don’t mind.” Dean made an affirming sound from somewhere behind him. “And if you want a secret: the only reason Dean and I aren’t together is because he doesn’t like pineapple on pizza.” 

Max lifted his chin up a little and a small smile began to form on his face while Dean made some sort of protesting sound. 

“Really?” 

Castiel nodded seriously. 

“It’s unreasonable for a boyfriend to hate Hawaiian pizza. Remember that, Max.” 

Max full-on grinned as Castiel stood back up just in time for Max’s dad and sister to jump back in line.

And the line moved forward. 

Castiel and Dean stepped forward onto the rickety carnival Spin-O-Rama and took their respective seats in the ride, neither of them saying anything. 

There were a few moments of silence before Castiel turned to Dean. 

“‘In _ theory _ we _ could _ be?’” He teased, looked at Dean with a crooked smile. 

Dean threw up his hands. 

“I panicked!”

Castiel covered up a laugh with one hand in case Max and his family was somewhere nearby. The last thing he wanted was for Max to think they were laughing at him.

“I didn’t want him to get all disappointed! Did you see the look on his face? The kid needed support.”

Castiel nodded once and held up his own arms as a man stopped by to check on their seat belts. 

The two of them laughed quietly to themselves at Dean’s expense for a few more moments, leaning against each other in their small cart. 

“Shame about your awful opinion on pizza, though.” Dean said after they’d calmed down enough to clear his throat. “To think we could have been dating this whole time.” 

Castiel opened his mouth, closed it, and cocked his head at Dean curiously, feeling a bit braver than he had before Max. 

“Really?”

Dean shrugged his shoulders once, trying and failing to hide a smile. 

Castiel’s heart fluttered in his chest.

“Yep. Damn shame.”

The ride lurched forward, and Castiel felt a hand slip into his own, squeezing tightly.

“Just in theory though.” Dean said, and the interlaced fingers were anything but theoretical.


End file.
